Sarah, here at age five, is now 40 inches tall– a critical measurement at this time in her life. She’s cooling from the intense Los Angles heat, in the hotel pool.

We’re in Anaheim to – one guess – visit Disneyland (yay!). The good people at Help Fill a Dream Foundation of Canada have paid our way, even giving us some spending money to buy souvenirs for the kids. Disneyland is the most wheelchair-friendly location in the world. In fact, a wheelchair is a big advantage, as you can enter the rides through the exit and stay on as long as you want. No lining up, wow! The people at Disneyland made my daughter Charlotte, who uses a wheelchair, an honourary citizen and lavished special attention on her (and us). It’s enough to almost make you cry. I still donate prints on a yearly basis to the Help Fill a Dream fundraising art auction. Thanks Barry. You and your people are great!

We learned that there was no point in going to Disneyland until Sarah was 40 inches tall, because that was the minimum height requirement for many of the rides. For three years, we had a height chart on the wall in her room, with “Disneyland!” written next to the 40-inch mark. Now THAT is anticipation!

I was drawn to this image by the colours: the green-blue of the water and suit colour in contrast to the red-orange of her skin tone and wet hair … something that I’ve embellished. I also enjoyed the distortion created by the rippling of the water and liked the interesting negative shapes created by the water.

I’ve composed the image so Sarah is looking to the top left, and her arm is trailing off to the bottom right. The intention is to have viewers enter as they would a book, from top left, then look across her face to her hair and ear, around the blue suit and the water distortion on the left side, in a circle, and back across, to have the eye exit out the arm on the bottom right. Mark Heine